Glass-tank furnace.



R. H. BOLIN.

GLASS TANK PURNACE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.13, 190s.

928, 1 7 5. Patented July 13, 1909.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

II/III R. H. BOLIN.

GLASS TANK FURNAGE.

APPLIUATION FILED JAN.1a, 190s.

` Y Patented July 13, 1909.

3 SHEETS-SHEET Z.

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Patented July 13, 1909.

Lkz/u R. H. BOLIN. GLASS TANK PURNAGE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 13, 1908 NDE ooO/bOQoo IIIIIIIIIIII I IP www@ i? v wf RICHARD E. BoLIN, or KANE', PENNSYLVANIA.

GLASS-TANK FURNAGE.

Specification of Letters Iatent.

Patented July 13, 1909.

Original application filed August 12, 1907, Serial No. 388,100. Divided and this application filed January 13, 1908.

` Serial No. 410,636.

y To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RICHARD H. BOLIN, a citizen of the Dominion of Canada, residing at Kane, in the county of McKean and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Glass-TankFurnaces, tion: i

This invention relates to tank furnaces especially adapted for use in glass manufacture; the present application being a division of an applicationfor Letters Patent of the United States filed bv'me August 12, 1907, for a paratus for glass manufacture, and serial y numbered 388,100, Letters Patent No. 920,107, having been granted in said application May 4, 1909.

Thenature and objects of said invention will be more readily understood from the followingdescription in which reference will be had` to the accompanying drawings which form a part of this application and wherein- Figure 1, represents in central vertical section a portion of one form of the furnace embodying my present invention, showing inconnection therewith in elevation, apparatus in the act of drawing a glass cylinder from said furnace; Fig. 2,y a top plan view,

partly in horizontal section of said furnace;

ig. 3, a fragmentary vertical section along line 3,-3 Fig. 2,and Fig. 4, a semi-diagrammatic view of said furnace, showing an arrangement of glass drawing apparatus with relation thereto.

The tank furnace which l have herein shown com rises, a main .heating chamber 1, in which ass material is reduced to a molten state y means of gas introduced thereinto through burners 2, as is common practice in the art, or in any other suitable way.

\ Located-at one end4 of this heatin chamber 1, is the tank 3 between which'an the main body of said heating chamber there is a dam 4 of suitable refractory material, the top of which is normally a few inches below the surface of the molten lass v5. This tank may extend to each si e of the main heating i chamber to form aT-shaped structure, as shown.

, At suitable intervals down the tank 3 are located a series of vertical refractory pillars 6, which extend from lthe top of the tank down to the bottom thereof, and communicate each kof which the following is a Aspecifica-' with an,air space 7 in the bottom ofthe tank.` This airspace may be formed by supporting the bottom of the tank upon I- eams 8, which may be railroad rails or other suitable supports properly spaced apart and supported upon a suitable foundation 9. heat and if solid would more rapidly deteriorate due to their slow heat radiating power when in that form. By making them hollow in the form of fiues and iermitting air from the outside to pass through the same, as herein described,` enough heat will be radiated te greatly prolong the life of said pillars. Arches 10 of suitable refractory material eX- tend from said flues to the side walls of the tank and between flues, and are located above the normal level of the glass, as shown. For veach of the openings into the tank formed by said 'arches as side walls, l provide a capstone 11 consisting of a slab of refractory material having through its center a preferably circular opening 12 which may be '60 inches in diameter or any other suitable size. Each of these cap-stones is of such shape as to conform to the particular arrangement of the arches 10, forming the sides of the opening with which a particular cap-stone is used, as shownin Fig. 2.

The cap-stones may he supported each by means of chains 13 connected thereto on oppositey sides of the opening 12. The chains 1.3 are supported by chains 14 adapted to wind on shafts 15 journaled in horizontal brackets 16 secured to uprights 17. The shafts 15 may be rotated to wind or unwind the chains in raising and lowering the cap-stones, by connecting said shafts through sprocket gearing 18, or otherwise, with winding cranks 19. Any other suitable means ma however, be employed for supporting an raising and lowering the cap-stones. The sides 2() of the tank are lower than the top of the center of the tank to permit the cap-stones to be readily placed in position and removed.

The furnace may be charged in any suitable-way with the glass material to be melted, through charging opening 21.

This invention has to do with 'thc tank furnace per se, but l have shown in connection therewith glass drawing apparatus to show how the furnace may be employed in apparatus being ed by a cable 26 by which said blow pipe and its connected parts are adapted to be raised and lowered through the medium of hoisting apparatus 27, carried upon a bracket 28 of a supporting crane 29 adapted to be rotated by motor 30 geared thereto, or in any other suitable manner. drawing apparatuses are preferably located around the exterior of the tank as indicated by the small circles 3l Fig. e, there being preferably one such apparatus for each capstone opening of the furnace. My present invention, however', is not confined to any special form of drawing apparatus or arrangement thereof in connection with the tank.

A furnace of the kind herein described is especially well adapted for the drawing of cy inders direct from the glass tank. Sufficient heat passes into the tank from the main body of the furnace to keep the glass at the required fluidity without the necessity of any auxiliary heating apparatus in the portion of the tank from which the glass articles are drawn. The retention of the re quired degree of heat in the tank proper is effected to a considerable extent by means ol' the capestones l1, which limit the heat radiation from the glass through the openings formed by the arches l0.

Having described a form of my invention, what l claim is :-V

1. A glass furnace, comprising a tank for n'iolten glass, a series of refractory hollow pillars extending from the bottom of said tank upward and' opening throu lh the bottom of said tank, and a series o refractory partition arches extending from said pillars to the side walls of said tank.

2. A glass furnace, comprising a glass tank, provided with a series of refractory partition arches, and a series of vertically movable cap-stones comprising each a slab of refractory material having an o ening to pernnt the drawing of glass artic es there-4 through, and means to su port said capstones, said cap-stones each ocated near the bottom of the opening in said tank bounded by said arches and above the level of the molten glass.

`3'. A glass furnace, comprising a main tank for molten glass, a heating chamber in which the glass is reduced to the molten state, said tank communicating directly with said chamber, a plurality of ca -stones located in said tank above the leve of the glasstherein, and mechanism to support said cap-stones for vertical movement.

4. A glass furnace, comprising a main rawing a glass i said tank communicating directly with said A plurality of such glass i tank for molten glass, a beating chamber in which the glass is reduced to a molten state,

chamber, a plurality of eapestones located in said tank above the level of the glass therein, each of said cap-stones comprising a slab of refractory material having an opening to permit the drawing of glass articles therethrough, and mechanism to support' said cap-stones for vertical movement.

5. A glass furnace comprising a tank for molten glass, a series of hollow refractory pillars extending from the bottom of said tank upward and opening through the bot-x tom of said tank, a plurality of refractory partition arches extending from said pillars to the side walls of said tank and between said pillars, said arches being located above the normal level of the molten glass in said tank, 'a plurality of cap-stones each comprising a slab of refractory material having an opening therethrough through which glass articles may be drawn from the molten glass in said tank, said cap-stones being located near the bottom of the opening into said tank :formed by a plurality of said arches, the side walls cf said tank and said pillars, and above the normal level of the molten glass insaid tank, and mechanism to support said capstones for vertical movement.

A furnace of the character described, comprising a lass tank having a plurality of refractory pilars located therein, and a scries of refractory arches extending *from thc said pillars to the side walls of the tank.

7. A furnace of the character described, comprising a glass tank having a plurality of refractory pillars located therein, refractory arches extending from the said pillars to the side walls of the tank, and a top portion'to said tank supported in part by said illars.

A furnace of the character escribed, comprising a glass tank having a plurality of refractory pillars located therein, refractory arches extending from the said pillars to the side walls of the tank and from pillar to pillar between adjacent pillars, and a to ortion to saidtank su )orted bysaid piars and arches and the snle walls of the tank.

9. A furnace of the character described, comprisinga glass tank having a plurality of refractory pillars located therein, refractory arches extending from the said pillars to the side walls of the tank and from pillar to pillar between adjacent pillars, and a top portion to said tank supported' by said pillars and arches and the side walls of the tank, the said arches forming the side walls of a series of openings leadin from the outside from above said tank own thereinto adapted to permit the drawing of glass articles therethrough from the molten glass within said tank. i

10. A glass tank furnace, comprising a tank for the molten glass, having a series of form a glass drawing zone between the said refractory pillars or piers loeatedjvithin the the said drawing zone, the said zone beingr main walls ofthe tank and, spaced apart near common t0 a plurality of said channels.

the drawing end Of said tank and coper- In testimony whereof I aflix my signature ating with the wall of said tank at said end to in presence of two witnesses.

RICHARD H. BOLIN.

Witnesses:

G. W. BERRY, -II.`K. SHAFFER.

piers and the wall ofthe tank, the openings, created by spacing the piers, forming channels through whirhl the molten glass reaches 

